Adventures in genealogy

Blog Update and Other Musings

I wanted to post a note about some updates I made to this blog. First, I re-categorized my posts and added a Category box on the sidebar in case a specific category is of interest to you. Next, I added three PDF fils for some of my recent articles. Copies of “20 Best Sites for Italian Genealogy”, “Writing Letters Overseas”, and “U.S. Draft Cards” have all be added to the My Articles page and are available to download. Finally, I’ve added a page with detailed genealogical information (and some photos) on The Bergmeister Family. The ability to create pages is why I used WordPress to begin with, so it’s great that I was finally able to get one family page created. Look for more in the future! I am hoping to find others researching the same families.

Speaking of blog changes, I received a link today from the California Genealogy Society and Library Blog as a comment on “several” of fellow genea-bloggers that post weekly “best of” picks. I discontinued my “Donna’s Picks” a couple of months ago for a few reasons. First, I realized that most of my readers are other genea-bloggers, so if I highlight one of their blogs chances are that almost all of my “readers” have already seen that post. Second, when I did highlight some non-genealogy blogs, nearly no one ever clicked on the link. That, combined with the lack of comments (other than from those I linked to), led me to stop the weekly Donna’s Picks round-up. I might start it back up, though. I enjoyed it, even if few readers did!

As an aside, I have to comment on PERSPECTIVE as it relates to genealogy. Lately I’ve been lamenting my apparent lack of old family photographs. Some genea-bloggers seem to have photos of their 4th great-grandparents…I didn’t even know that photography itself was that old! I cherish the few photos I have, and I’ve always dreamed of suddenly receiving a box full of genealogical goodies. For months now, I’ve been contacting cousins in hopes of receiving some photos, but no one has any (or no one has sent me any). Then, I read about Craig’s find…unbelievable! Every genealogist’s dream come true! That would have made me a little depressed over my own lack of family photos, until I learned it’s just a metter of perspective. I got together with a friend yesterday whose grandparents were the immigrants to this country. She never met them because they died long before she was born, but she does have at least one photo of each set of grandparents. When I showed her the photos of three of the four sets of my great-grandparents, she was impressed and told me how lucky I was to have them. I have to admit, I am lucky. Just not as lucky as Craig!

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4 Responses

I hope you will start doing your “Picks” again! Don’t be dismayed about the lack of comments. One thing I learned at the Jamboree Bloggers Summit and from Schelly’s Gen-Bloggers talk is that the problem is universal. The good news is that your posts are out there for future searchers to find.

Hi Donna!
I agree with Kathryn. I have about 70 blogs that I subscribe to in my Google Reader, and most have very interesting and often helpful (genealogy-wise) posts that I relish! But I usually don’t leave comments, ‘cuz “there just ain’t enough time in the day!” I do love to read them all and appreciate the work that everyone puts into their blogs.

I used to feel the way you do about the lack of photos–and I still do with respect to many of the other lines I’m researching! But I’m being careful, you what they say about getting what you wish for . . . .

Donna, I’ve been running a “picks” off and on as my “Harvest from the Blog Garden” — and more off recently. Like you I’ve been considering dropping it completely as (1) it takes a lot of time and (2) it seemed that I’d always stayed within the same group of writers. I decided to give it a rest for a few weeks — and to post short “shout out” articles when the urge strikes.

I think we both may be suffering from the doldrums of summer. I’ve missed your “picks.”
Terry
HILL COUNTRY OF MONROE COUNTY MISSISSIPPI